Although he won as expected, Bryan County standout distance runner Ethan Trombly admitted he was surprised by his time in the 1600 meters in the Region 3A-DI track meet held Monday and Tuesday at Bryan County High School.
“I was kind of stunned when I got my time,” said Trombly who was clocked in a personal best of 4:57. “My previous best was 5:10. The weather was perfect for running. You couldn’t have asked for a better day.
“There was a minimum wind, it was not scorching hot. It was great…a perfect day.”
Trombly needed his best as Metter sophomore Marshall Myers finished second in 5:00–although the race was not necessarily that close.
Freshman Abbigail Stucker had a much easier time in winning the girls’ 1600 as she also ran a personal best of 6:12 to finish 33 seconds ahead of Metter’s Jazmin Hernandez.
Thanks to its superior depth, especially in the hurdles, Metter won both the boys’ and girls’ titles. The Tigers piled up 225 points to outdistance the second-place Redskins boys who had 142. Bryan County’s girls finished third with 139 points behind Metter (194) and Claxton (155).
“I started really fast,” Trombly said. “I tried to gas some people out, get them to chase me and for the ones that did it worked. They kind of fell back and then the third lap I started slowing down a lot and people started catching up to me.
“On the fourth lap I turned it up and ended up breaking five minutes which was one of my goals this season.”
With the top four finishers advancing to the sectional meet, Trombly finished an easy second in the 800 meters. The sectional meet will be held May 4 at East Laurens where the top eight will advance to the May 9-11 state meet at Rome.
Stucker led all Bryan County qualifiers, boys’ and girls’, as she qualified in three events. In addition to the 1600 she was second in the 800 in 2:39.58 to beat out fellow freshman Lexi Lane who was clocked in 2:39.62. She followed that up an hour later with a second in the grueling 3200 meters.
“I just started out to make sure I kept my pace and stayed with a good time,” Stucker said of her 1600 strategy. “I started my kick at 200 meters to make sure I finished strong.
“I enjoy running. I like the adrenaline rush it gives…I just enjoy it. I started running in the sixth grade and ran cross country last fall.”
Trombly’s first-place finish was one of three earned by the boys who saw junior Jayden Lee hit a personal best of 10 feet in the pole vault and Austin Clemons claim first in the discus with a heave of 138-09. The 4 x 800 relay team was also first.
The Redskins boys’ had a total of 11 qualifiers in six events not including two relay teams.
Stucker’s first-place finish was the only one earned by the girls who had 13 qualifiers in 11 events. All four relay teams also advanced.
Additional boys’ qualifiers:
Pole vault: Ryan Harrington, 2nd; discus: Carlin Covington, 4th; 1600: Will Summerford, 3rd; shot put: Clemons, 2nd; Covington, 3rd; 3200: Summerford, 2nd; Rodney Johnson, 3rd.
Additional girls’ qualifiers:
High jump: Johnesha Carter, 4th; long jump: Ashanti Brown, 4th; shot put: Soniya Whitaker, 3rd; pole vault: Braelynn Shuman, 2nd; Lauren Caldwell, 4th; triple jump: Emily Johnson, 3rd; discus: Johnson, 2nd; 200: Ni’Jalah Walker, 4th; 300 meter hurdles: Briana Crawford, 2nd; 3200: McKinely Walker, 3rd.
